(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plasma display panel (PDP) and a method for driving a PDP.
(2) Description of the Related Art
A plasma display panel (PDP) is a flat panel display that uses plasma generated via a gas discharge process to display characters or images. Tens to millions of pixels are provided in a matrix format on a PDP, depending on the size of the PDP. PDPs are categorized into DC PDPs and AC PDPs, according to supplied driving voltage waveforms and discharge cell structures.
Typically, the AC PDP driving method uses a reset period, an address period, and a sustain period with respect to temporal operation variations. During the reset period, wall charges formed by a previous sustain are erased, and cells are reset so as to fluently perform a next address operation. During the address period, cells that are turned on and those that are not turned on are selected, and the wall charges are accumulated on the turned-on cells (i.e., addressed cells). During the sustain period, a discharge for displaying images to the addressed cells is executed. When the sustain period starts, sustain pulses are alternately applied to the scan electrodes and sustain electrodes to thus perform sustaining and display the images.
Conventionally, a ramp waveform is applied to a scan electrode so as to establish wall charges in the reset period, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,745,086, which hereby is incorporated by reference. A gradually rising ramp waveform is applied to the scan electrode, and a gradually falling ramp waveform is then applied thereto. Since precision control of the wall charges greatly depends on the slope or gradient of the ramp in applying the ramp waveforms, the wall charges are not finely controlled within a predetermined time frame.